The Blackhawks dominated the Flames at home and for the first time in the series used their team speed as the real difference factor

The Hawks dominated every aspect of the game and it was over quickly, the two biggest differences between game five and previous games were that the Blackhawks generated speed through the neutral zone and created odd man chances that drew penalties. Then from a defensive standpoint the forwards came back and the Hawks defenseman did not turn the puck over nearly as much – finally gone was the frequent stretch pass attempts.

The question now is can the Blackhawks close this out on the road? Calgary and the sea of red are going to come out looking for blood, for the Hawks to have success they re going to have to survive a fire storm out of the gate. If they can make it ten minutes into the game with the score tied they can take it.

For the first time in the series Miika Kiprusoff is starting to show how tired he is, a great gameplan would be to shoot early and often as if there was ever a time he could be beat with a weak one this is it. His confidence must also come into question after a weakish game - a two goal lead would likely be enough to put out the Flames on Monday.

Point Shots

How good is Dustin Byfuglien playing? I have watched him all year and he is not the same guy – If Sami Pahlsson actually brought this out in Buff like the media is saying re-signing may not be a bad idea.

Cam Barker is now the leading scorer among defenseman in these playoffs – not bad for a guy that one started the year in the minors and two was almost dealt straight across for Chris Neil.

Niklas Hjarrmlsson or “Hammer” has proved he is an NHL defenseman – exciting when you think that this team has nearly everything coming back next season.

Duncan Keith and Brent Seabrook are finally getting the recognition they deserve, I have said many times this year that Duncan Keith is a legitimate Norris candidate – just that nobody knows it yet – well the secret is out.

2 Comments

In response to “Nothing Like Some Home Cooking”

I knew the Hawks were going to win last night but did not expect them to pound the Flames.Matt Walker deserves a lot of praise today after what he went through and the fact that he only missed 2 shifts and played the rest of the game.http://www.crashthecrease.com/?p=2087Video of the incident if anyone is interested

Here is hoping that Hawks can wrap it up tonight, as Phag-9 is likely out of Calgary's lineup and he's the biggest injury risk out there with his cheap-shot brand of play… Gotta love how the Hawks are playing, win or lose, as they're barely a legitimate playoff team at the start of the season…I'm hoping we don't get a game 7 here. GO HAWKS!